Phillies Pregame Notes: Ruiz Moves Up, Lee to Return

The Nats send former Phillies farmhand Gio Gonzalez to the mound today, which isn’t necessarily promising for the Phils’ offense.

In seven previous games against left-handed starters, the Phillies have tallied just seven total runs against them. Overall, lefty starters have a 1.36 ERA against the Phillies so far this season with a 26-to-6 K:BB ratio. The Phils have dropped five straight.

Charlie Manuel will go with an all-righty lineup today, including Carlos Ruiz in the No. 5 spot.

Ruiz has hit in nine straight starts, posting a .416/.447/.833 slash line in those games. Add up his numbers from July 1 of last year, spring training of this year and these first 23 games of 2012 and here’s what you get: .344/.401/.516 slash line, 10 homers, 51 RBI, 43 runs scored, 30 walks and 41 strikeouts in 345 at-bats.

This marks just the second time in his career Ruiz has started hitting higher than sixth in the order. The lone other game was April 15, 2008 when he went 0-for-3 in the No. 2 hole. Jayson Werth led off that game, Eric Bruntlett played short and Adam Eaton was on the mound. (And Chris Snelling hit a pinch-hit homer batting for Ruiz in the 9th!)

Also returning to the lineup today is John Mayberry Jr., who had started just one of the past 14 games. The bench seems to have helped Mayberry some, however, as he’s 5-for-15 with two doubles and his first walk of the season in his last 11 games.

For the season, Mayberry has a .296/.296/.407 slash line against lefties and a .143/.172/.143 line vs. righties.

Similarly, Shane Victorino has posted a 1.235 OPS vs. lefties compared to a .539 OPS against righties this season.

Cliff Lee also pitched a bullpen session today and said he expects to start Wednesday’s game against the Mets.

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